November 20, 2015 (Gällivare, Sweden) – Five national teams, including the US, Canada, and the Czech Republic, have chosen Gällivare as their training grounds for world cup season. The teams have spent most of November at the training camp in Dundret, and will take part in the Gällivare Premiere on November 21-22.

Canada's Devon Kershaw in Gallivare © Nordic Focus file photo

“The stage is set for a truly world class premiere competition,” says Stefan Nieminen, Sport Event Gällivare’s director. “As of now, we have at least four World Championship medalists and about 40 World Cup participants signed up, which feels fantastic.”

Ski Camp Gällivare scheduled the season launch on November 1st, and during that first week the national teams converged in Gällivare for training. First up were Canada and the Czech Republic, who  repeated their approach from last season.

“Our success at the World Championships in Falun proved that our training in Gällivare was very effective,” said Luke Sacher, the Czech head coach. “We’re really looking forward to coming back again.”

The USA, with their surprise medals during the previous World Championships, have followed in Canada’s footsteps and have brought the entire team to Gällivare. Poland and Slovakia also registered their teams for the training camp.

“Gällivare is perfect for our World Cup preparations,” said Canadian XC Ski head coach Justin Wadsworth. “The nicely prepared trails and varied terrain are perfect for distance and interval training.”

The Gällivare Premiere, which finishes off the training camp period at Dundret and is open to both juniors and seniors, will have the same format as the World Cup in Ruka, Finland taking place on the last weekend of November.

Gällivare is perfectly situated to have early snow, which (amongst other factors) has led to the International Ski Federation choosing Gällivare to host the World Cup premiere six times since 2004. The combination of early snows and challenging courses is unique. Gällivare is now focusing on presenting world class skiing events every year.

The Gällivare Premiere will take place on the tough World Cup track in Hellner Stadium. The competitions are FIS sanctioned, and this year’s lineup has some of the world’s best skiers, perfecting their form for the upcoming World Cup premiere in Ruka in Finland a week later. The competitions are also open to juniors, which will give them the chance to try the World Cup courses and improve their FIS rankings. As of this year, there is also a sprint competition for the juniors, which is held in conjunction with the FIS competition on Saturday.

Start list for Sprint here.

Start list for Skate here.

Notice!
New time for Team-captains meeting Friday, November 20, 5 pm at Hellnerstadion.

Schedule

Saturday, November 21st
Sprint (K) D17-20, 1200 m
Sprint (K) D21, 1200 m
Sprint (K) H17-20, 1400 m
Sprint (K) H21, 1400 m